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Summary List of stories Phase I Day: Honor, Duty, And Family << chapter 32 Chapter 33 of 75 Mad Costume Parties chapter 34 >> << previous scene Scene 2 of 2 next scene >> Location Participants Time Summary Prologue | Phase I | Phase II | Epilogue 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 Text The morning after Nightmare Night found Scrivener still in his half-wyrm, half-pony state, holding a mug of coffee easily in his claw and sipping at it slowly as he said mildly: "See, this part at least I could get used to. I would not mind permanently having claws. Way better than hooves." "Oh shut up, hooves are fine. Don't be lazy." Luna retorted, and then she sighed a little, smiling in spite of herself as Antares slowly poked his head over Scrivener's. The foal was seated comfortably across his father's shoulders, and the winged unicorn couldn't help but smile despite herself at this as Antares flapped his wings a few times, making Scrivy wince as his mane was blown around by the surprisingly-strong gusts. "Good colt! Strengthen those wings, aye, make the very best of what thou has!" "Wings!" Antares shouted, throwing his front hooves out... and then he yelped as he overbalanced, falling backwards and bouncing off his father's broad back to land with a puff on the blankets and bedding below, the foal burbling and giggling a little as Scrivener only smiled and shook his head. Twilight sighed from where she was sitting at the writing desk across the room as Luna giggled a little, before the violet mare remarked: "You really are just about the best parents ever, aren't you two? I can't imagine how Scarlet Sage puts up with it all the time. Or how she turned out so well, for that matter." "It's a good nature versus nurture argument, I'll give you that." Scrivener replied mildly, and then he winced when Antares tackled his tail, clinging to it and giggling quietly. "Hey, kiddo, that's sensitive, don't-" Antares bit firmly into the middle of his tail, and Scrivener winced and arched his back, eyes bulging before the foal blinked and looked awkwardly up, asking curiously: "Hurt?" "Yes. Hurt." Scrivener carefully put his coffee aside, turning around to pick the foal up and gently put him down away from his tail, looking meditatively over towards Luna as the sapphire winged unicorn giggled and Twilight laughed and shook her own head. "Don't take too much after your mother now. But speaking of your mother... Luna, plans for today?" "Well, after Scarlet Sage wakes up, I would like to do some training and resume our normal schedule for the next month or so." Luna said thoughtfully, leaning back a bit before she patted the ground in front of her with one hoof, and Antares happily ran over to his mother before she swept him up in a hug, smiling and squeezing the foal close as she continued: "We must continue to lay these silly anchors for Odin, of course... although I do wish I knew where the old lecher was. And yes, Scrivener, there is no need to shout the question in thy mind, I shall undo the polymorph shortly. I simply... enjoy seeing thee... like this." Luna looked at him a little lamely, but Scrivener only smiled a little, able to read her emotions and intent as they studied each other for a few quiet moments before he nodded slowly, and Twilight laughed a little, gazing from one to the other as she said softly: "You two really can be so strange, you know that?" "It's part of our charm." Scrivener shrugged, then he looked flatly at Luna when she frowned and slowly held Antares out in front of her, the stallion glowering at her as Twilight looked confused for a moment before the charcoal earth pony asked dryly: "Do you think you could just change him this one time, perhaps?' "No, thou art the one with the dexterous claws and all!" Luna retorted quickly, and Scrivener groaned, slapping his face with this before Luna thrust Antares out towards him, the foal giggling as he flailed a little, looking brightly back and forth. "We really must get Antares out of diapers sooner rather than later." "Alright, alright, we can look into potty-training stuff when we go into Ponyville next... I think our big boy is just about ready for that anyway." Scrivener said finally, and then he turned around and allowed Luna to lightly set the child down on his back, Antares smiling happily before the half-wyrm, half-pony started down the corridor, calling dryly: "You sure neither of you wants to do this?" "I'm busy foal-sitting Luna." Twilight said hurriedly, and then she grinned lamely when Luna gave her a sour look. "No offense, of course." "I shall foal-sit on thee." Luna grumbled, and Scrivener sighed from down the corridor, smiling in spite of himself as he shoved the door to Antares' room open... and then reared his head back in slight surprise at the sight of Gymbr, the toy complacently resting in Antares' crib. The foal bounced excitedly at this, burbling happily, and Scrivener shook his head as he strode into the room. Antares was trying to lean towards the crib, but Scrivener carefully reached back, pulling him off his back and putting him on the changing table. The foal tried to scramble up, but Scrivener shook his head, gently pushing him back down and reassuring: "Quick change, kiddo, and then I'll get Gymbr for you and you can play with him all day, okay?" "Okay Daddy." Antares replied after a moment, and Scrivener smiled warmly before he quickly went about the process of changing the foal's diaper. Antares squirmed a little, but it was a fairly smooth process... although Scrivener found himself surprised when the child asked curiously: "Bite-night?" "No, that was last night. We only get to do it once a year... that's part of why it's so special." Scrivener said softly, smiling a little as he finished doing up the diaper. He glanced towards the onesie that the baby had been in... and then he shrugged, picking this up and tossing it into the hamper instead before he lifted Antares off the table and put him down. Antares Mīrus was still looking up at him curiously, but Scrivener only laughed and smiled as he turned towards the crib, continuing: "Daddy's uh... 'costume' is going to go away soon, don't worry. But your mother wanted me to uh... 'wear' it for a little longer." Then Scrivener passed Gymbr down to Antares, and the foal happily picked this up before turning and running away with a giggle, any other questions forgotten as Scrivener shook his head with a smile. The stallion followed the child out and down the corridor, returning to the den to find Twilight playing with the foal and Luna now sitting back with a photo album beside her and a stack of pictures. After another hour or so, Luna finally dispelled the polymorph: it left him aching a little, but Luna huffed and blamed Scrivener's 'childish constitution' before going back to sorting out her new photo album. She grumbled about not having any pictures from last night, but Scrivener only smiled amusedly at her, reassuring her he was sure they could find somepony who took a few pictures and get a few copies for her memory book. Not long after Scarlet Sage got up, the odd little family ended up curling up together around the album, simply paging through it, remembering times new and old. Antares burbled happily, pointing at himself in pictures, giggling a little here and there and looking awed by some of the photographs as he tried to make sense of them... particularly pictures like the one of Luna grinning cheerfully as she stood with Little Luna. Twilight was fascinated by the pictures of Nice Celestia, and Shining Armor and Cadence, and of course the pictures of the other layer's Twilight Sparkle. She smiled a little as she touched one of these, saying softly: "It's like gazing into the past..." Luna nodded slowly, paging slowly through the album. Pictures of them, of other layers, of good memories. Of moments frozen forever in time, that she was always able to go back to, to see old faces she would in all likelihood never see again, but this way could never and would never be forgotten. Entire stories were hidden in every photograph, in the angle of the picture, in the background and the details, in the subtle cues of body language; stories that would last even after their lives were extinguished, as long as these pictures were left intact. It ended up being a lazier day than Luna intended: they did only a little training after they finally put the albums safely away, and that turned mostly into playing with Antares Mīrus. But Luna thought that was more than good enough, all things considered: they deserved a relaxing day now and then. Nightmare Night had been fun, certainly, but the young foal had worked hard for his candy, too, with all his running around. Scarlet Sage decided to go into town to visit Celestia, see her friends, and pick up a few groceries. Antares shortly went down for a nap as well, leaving Twilight, Scrivener, and Luna some time to rest together and simply... talk through things. The three felt more comfortable together these days than they ever had in the past: the time they had spent together recently, the openness they had started to show, and Celestia's seeming acceptance had all played a big role in getting to this point. Piece-by-piece, it felt like everything was finally starting to fall together. Like they were all finding themselves, like they were settling with one-another and establishing... a real life. It was hard to describe, but whatever it was, it felt both good and right... although Scrivener and Luna were both fairly certain they were bias, considering how well life was going for them in particular. How despite the threats, the darkness, the lurking evil, they also both had been granted everything they had ever desired, and more. Peace, serenity, happiness: they had that, at that moment in time. Nothing else mattered as they rested together, comfortable with one-another, feeling linked, feeling good. Antares was asleep in his room, Scarlet Sage was in town with friends, and at least for now the world felt like a safe place, the biggest threat currently foals that were eating too much candy and making themselves either hyperactive or sick. The only real question was where was Odin, but Luna knew in her heart – whether she wanted to admit it or not – that if something bad ever did truly happen to the old once-god, she would feel it with her Valkyrie instincts. She would simply know; just like one way or the other, she somehow simply knew that in all likelihood the once-god was perfectly fine, wherever he was, whatever he was doing. Antares awoke from his short nap after only an hour or so, looking a little groggy and grouchy, but Luna quickly cheered her child up with some candy from last night that she also helped herself to. The foal was delighted by this, gobbling it up, and Luna looked pleased before heading into their room to get more from her own stash of candy... kept in a massive, locked trunk that was filled to the brim with countless sugary treats large and small. Just like in old Equestria, ponies offered up their candy on Nightmare Night... except they offered it to the statue of Garm outside Ponyville, one of the Black Wolves of Hell. They poured a helping of their candy into the trunk, and said trunk had later been retrieved by Nightmares at the end of the celebrations and brought here for Luna's pleasure. It amused Scrivener endlessly that Luna refused to accept money or special treatment: instead, she took her payment to protect Ponyville in candy and sweets. Not that it surprised him, at the same time... he thought it played well into Luna's hedonism and pleasure-seeking streak, gluttonous as it was. He was just glad that Luna usually kept herself from binging too often: to her, the candy was almost like currency... edible, delicious currency. Discombobulation returned a few minutes after Luna had grabbed herself a snack, the chaos entity still wearing his now-rumpled, wrinkly suit. He had spent a lot of hours of the night helping Celestia with her scrying mirror and searching for Odin's location, but what had frustrated him most of all was not the work or the lack of success, but the fact that Celestia refused to rise to any of his baiting or insults. Luna was surprised to hear that Celestia was looking for Odin, as was Scrivener Blooms, but Discombobulation only shrugged, finally rubbing briskly at his suit to make it vanish and helping himself to a handful of Antares' candy from his bag, earning a scowl from the child before Discombobulation reached out and picked up Gymbr, hugging it absently against his chest as he'd rambled for a little while about things that didn't completely make sense, then wincing when Antares had wiggled into his lap to grab Gymbr, then simply curl up and mumble to himself. The Draconequus dealt with this awkwardness by snapping his fingers to create a simple headband with a large pair of cat ears sticking off it, placing this on Antares before hesitantly beginning to pet him. The foal had only burbled happily, however, and Discombobulation had relaxed a little as Scrivener and Luna smiled and Twilight gazed softly at the chimerical creature. They had simply sat quietly for a little while together, the odd group resting in peace as Antares fell into a doze, and Bob had mumbled something about not being a caretaker even as he'd visibly been a little too nervous to move. But eventually Antares had roused himself and run off with Gymbr, and Discombobulation had calmed down. Then the foal had returned after a few moments with a small, odd object, and Scrivener had wondered dumbly how the hell Antares had gotten his hooves on it before he'd simply nodded and smiled a little, gently slipping the necklace onto his son. A polished, almost perfectly-circular black stone hung from the necklace, engraved with the shape of a star. Scrivener had put it together for his son's birthday, and Luna had enchanted it to make it glow quietly in the dark, so Antares would always be able to see, would always have a light to guide the way. Normally it hung on a high hook in Antares' room to give him a night-light... but then again, it wasn't like strange things weren't already a normal occurrence around the cottage. Luna and Twilight had both noted something odd, though: Antares was using his leathery wings more and more, but he rarely showed any magical proficiency. His horn did sometimes glow every now and them, that was true, but most unicorn foals had the occasional uncontrollable burst of magic: so far, Antares hadn't even shown much in the way of telekinetic control. Sometimes, Luna wondered silently if Nightmare Moon had something to do with that, if her enchantment had perhaps stunted or delayed Antares' magical growth... but inside her, the dark manifestation of passion only ever smiled in contempt at these thoughts. Of course, Antares was far from any normal foal, too: not just because of who his parents are, what Nightmare Moon had already done to him, but how quickly he was developing. Not as fast as some prodigies, perhaps, but in a way, Scrivener Blooms was happy that while his son was special... he also wasn't already turning out to be some miraculous little chosen hero. He was just a kid, growing up, not even potty-trained yet but catching on quickly when it came to learning to talk, maybe starting to show the slightest interest in starting to read. Antares was already their little miracle, after all... and Scrivener knew there was such a thing as too much of a good thing. It was a curious thought to have, yet as Scrivener looked down at Gymbr when Antares burbled happily and bounce over towards his set of toys, he felt that it was also strangely... right. And as Luna and Twilight regarded the stallion curiously as he simply sat and thought, not only Luna, but Twilight too seemed to catch the whisper of his thoughts in their mind. Then Discombobulation reached quietly out, picking up the doll, and Scrivener was shaken out of his almost-trance as the Draconequus held the toy up and shook it gently, saying softly: "From us patchwork dolls to you, Luna Brynhild... a little advice. It's very healthy to never be so arrogant to think yourself wise... but at the same time, you should never, ever doubt in your own wisdom. Do you understand?" "Not at all." Scrivener Blooms replied with a smile, and the Draconequus nodded seriously and looked oddly relieved, as if this had been exactly the answer he'd hoped for. Then he simply tossed Gymbr to the stallion, and Scrivener had caught it with ease as he'd looked down into the button eyes of the strange, chimerical doll, wondering just what answers this strange little toy held and why it seemed to be becoming more and more important to everyone in their odd little family. Category:Transcript Category:Story